2015 was the year that went by in a blur. It was a year spent working on projects and worrying too much. It was restless. It was not a good year for me, however it was a year that, unlike 2013 or 2014 maybe, I will never (and don't even want to) forget.

January:

I finished off my project for Contextual Design III in January; it was a busy month spent in front of the computer, seldomly seeing the sun and barely being able to enjoy the few centimeters of snow we got. I remember working incredibly hard on all the floor plans, elevations and sections, and hating every single minute of it. To be honest, I don't even know what got me through the weeks leading up to final crit, but I definitely was glad when January was over.

February:

The first two weeks of Feburary were cold and a lot more quiet. Lorenz and I went to see Enter Shikari live in concert on the first Saturday, and it was freaking amazing. I'm pretty sure I listened to the whole The Mindsweep album on repeat for the following week straight. And then, after handing in the last seminar papers of the semester and passing all my exams, my lovely Jutta came to visit. We spent a few very sunny and relaxing days together, which you can actually read more about in her blogpost. It was the perfect little vacation, before starting the second round of my internship on the sixteenth of the month.

March:

Most of March was most definitely spent working, eating cake, playing with makeup and listening to music. The photo above was taken at my Dad's place and still is one of my favorite self portraits I have taken in a long time. Lorenz and I spent a nice day there to build a headboard for our bed, and I utilized the beautiful sunset to take some selfies. I do actually remember standing there, pressing the shutter release button on my remote and wishing I had my own garden to go out and take photos in. It's just such a calming and inspiring place.

April:

My last Bachelor semester started after Easter, and other than that I don't think anything noteworthy even happened in April. Being the procrastinator that I am, I didn't start working on my Bachelor thesis right away, and without a doubt went on long walks and watched tons of videos on YouTube instead.

May:

This one certainly was one of the harder months for me. Beside spending days upon days researching and designing floor plans, I had to sacrifice valuable time (that I didn't even have in the first place) to work on another project. But even though I was incredibly stressed and salty throughout most of the month, a few highlights of my year actually happened in May. Annekathrin's and Jerome's wedding for instance, which I got to shoot on a mostly cloudy Saturday, or deleting my old Google account and starting this blog.

June:

June was cold and spent working on my thesis. I procrastinated way more than I should have by writing way too many blogposts, and I know it sounds stupid, but doing that really helped me to stay focused and not lose my mind. After handing in parts of my thesis at the end of June, I finally had a bit of time to myself, which I most likely passed by taking photos and filming and editing the first video for my new channel.

July:

I presented my Bachelor project on the fourteenth, and the two weeks leading up to that definitely were nerve-wracking and filled with (a lot of) work and doubt. But knowing that it would be over soon kept me going, and when my professor told me that I had passed, all the weight was finally taken off my shoulders. On the day after, Jutta came to visit for the second time and we had a great couple of days together once again, eating donuts, playing with makeup, exploring and spending time on the sofa. July was good, but having so much free time all of a sudden and basically nothing to do towards the end of it, gave me a lot time to think.

August:

This month brought with it several birthdays (including my own), long summer days, some of which were incredibly sunny and hot, others however quite rainy and cold, trips to Berlin, the countryside, an abandoned hospital and most importantly, many beautiful moments on Lorenz' and my summer vacation to Normandy, France. It was definitely an August worth remembering and a lot more special to me than the one in the year before, for a lot of different reasons.

September:

Being an absolute lover of the beautiful fall season, September seemed like a true blessing to me. Days got shorter and crisper, leaves slowly started changing colors, and even though things in my life were uncertain up until pretty much the end of the month, I still found time to relax and enjoy it. Hiking through the beautiful Harz Mountains made me one very happy camper, and rainy mornings and afternoons spent taking photos were strangely tranquil and inspiring.

October:

October was one of the easiest months for me, I think. I started working and got used to getting up early every day and having a routine again. The weekends were spent exploring Hamburg with my family, taking pictures with people who share the same passion for photography, and going on long walks. I got sick towards the end of the month and stayed in bed for a couple days, but apart from that, October mostly felt calm.

November:

When I thought I had finally reached a steady point in my life again, November rolled around and brought a lot of tears and uncertainty. It really hurt, and it was insanely ugly, let me tell you that much. But luckily, I managed to pull myself together a bit when I visited Anna in Frankfurt on the first weekend in Advent and talking about insignificant things like makeup or Snapchat took my mind off all the crap back at home.

December:

It was just such a stressful month that should have been so merry. The Christmas markets seemed appealing on one or two occasions, but always ended up being a little too crowded for my liking. Christmas itself was spent running from one part of Lorenz' family to another and back again, and eating way too much fatty food. To be honest, being in the Ore Mountains for a day after the holidays and seeing this beautiful sunset probably was my favorite thing about all of December.

I certainly had my ups and downs in 2015. (Unfortunately many more downs though.) And I already know 2016 will be yet another somewhat rocky year for me, with many important facts still being uncertain, but hopefully at the end of it I'll be able to look back on a good year and be a lot more happy, nonetheless.